Chore Tracker configuration error

[szethh]

Hi! I tried setting up the chore tracker but I ran into an issue. I'm at this point in your guide:

Double check that the chores are loaded in the States tab of Developer Tools by searching for the entity group.chores. There should be a list of your chores in the attributes of the entity. However, I do not see any entities of type `input_button or input_text. Here is my configuration.yaml:

# Loads default set of integrations. Do not remove.
default_config:

Text to speech

tts:

• platform: google_translate

automation: !include automations.yaml script: !include scripts.yaml scene: !include scenes.yaml

lovelace: mode: yaml resources:

• url: /hacsfiles/lovelace-auto-entities/auto-entities.js type: module
• url: /hacsfiles/button-card/button-card.js type: module

http: use_x_forwarded_for: true trusted_proxies:

• 127.0.0.1
• 172.16.0.0/12

FOR SOME REASON REQUIRED OTHERWISE GROUPS IS NOT DEFINED

DUMMY GROUP

binary_sensor:

• platform: group entities:
  • binary_sensor.bunphone_focus

input_button: # FOR SOME REASON REQUIRED OTHERWISE INPUT BUTTON IS NOT DEFINED input_button chores: !include chores.yaml

input_text: # FOR SOME REASON REQUIRED OTHERWISE INPUT TEXT IS NOT DEFINED input_text chores: !include chores.yaml

As you can see there is not much that could interfere. I did find that, if I don't include the `input_button:` line, I get errors while parsing the configuration. This is a fresh install of HaOS (2022.6.7).
Likewise, I needed to create a "dummy" group, or the automation would complain that the service "group.get" was not defined.

I'm really new to HomeAssistant so I don't really know how it works. Can you help me?

[Madelena]

You are correct that the input_button: line is needed if you don't have any other input buttons defined. Thank you for the report and let me add it to the tutorial.

Does it work otherwise?

[Madelena]

Also, did you type "group.get" or "group.set"?

[szethh]

Also, did you type "group.get" or "group.set"?

Yes, sorry, it was group.set.

If I don't include the input_button: line the check configuration hangs forever (does not raise any errors), but when I run ha core check it does flag it as an error.

Even with that line included, and after reloading the input_buttons and input_texts, they still don't show up in the list of entities. The automation seems to run fine, but since there are no entities named chore_x it does not fill the list.

Maybe clicking reload does not expand !includes or read from files?

Also, I had some doubts with the whole !include thing. From my understanding, the line input_button chores: !include chores.yaml is:

1. Taking the dictionary input_button (which needs to be created beforehand, hence the "dummy" line input_button:) and modifying/adding the key chores
2. The value of input_button[chores] is set to whatever the chores.yaml file returns
3. Which is another dictionary of input_buttons, with their corresponding name and icon properties.

So if we "expand" the !include directive, we would end up with:

input_button.chores:  --> these are not picked up by the entity explorer?
  chore_clean_kitchen_sink: # A unique ID for the chore
    name: Clean Kitchen Sink # The name of the chore to be shown on the Chore List
    icon: mdi:water-pump # The icon of the chore to be shown on the Chore List
  ... (more chores)

Is this how it works? As I said I'm really new to this. Thanks.

[Madelena]

I just double checked the tutorial and thanks for your analysis.

Would it work if you try:

input_button: !include chores.yaml
input_text: !include chores.yaml

Make sure chores.yaml and configurations.yaml are in the same folder.

For some reason the input_button chores: alias doesn't work, so removing it to just input_button: should work.

[szethh]

Yes, that worked! Now I don't need the dummy lines anymore. The automation also worked perfectly, now group.chores shows up with a list of entities.

However, I now have problems with the UI...

For reference, this is my ui-lovelace.yaml

title: Home
views:
  - path: default_view
    title: Home
    cards:
      - type: weather-forecast
        entity: weather.buienradar
        show_forecast: false
      - type: "custom:auto-entities"
        filter:
          include:
            - group: group.chore_plants
              options:
                type: "custom:button-card"
                template: chore_card
        card:
          type: entities
          title: Plants

button_card_templates:
  chore_card:
    variables:
      now: [[[return new Date()]]]  # ' --> removed this quote
      last_done: [[[return new Date(entity.state)]]]  # ' --> and this one as well
      diff: >-
        [[[ return Math.round((new Date() - new Date(entity.state)) / 1000 /
        60 / 60 / 24 ) ]]]
      due: >-
        [[[ return states[entity.entity_id.replace("input_button",
        "input_text")].state ]]]
    triggers_update: all
    show_label: true
    layout: icon_name_state2nd
    size: 24px
    label: |
      [[[
        var doneStr
        if (variables.diff < 2) {
          if (variables.last_done.getDay() == variables.now.getDay()) { doneStr = 'today' } else { doneStr = 'yesterday' }
        } else if (isNaN(variables.diff)) {
          doneStr = 'unknown'
        } else {
          doneStr = variables.diff + ' days ago'
        }
        if (variables.due > 0) {
          return 'Every ' + variables.due + ' days &bull; Last done ' + doneStr
        } else { return 'As needed &bull; Last done ' + doneStr }
      ]]]
    custom_fields:
      badge: |
        [[[
          if ((variables.diff < 2) && (variables.last_done.getDay() == variables.now.getDay())) { return 'Done' }
          if (variables.due > 0) {
            if (variables.due < variables.diff) { return 'Overdue' }
            if (variables.due < variables.diff + (variables.due / 4)) { return 'To do soon' }
          }
        ]]]
    styles:
      card:
        - margin: 4px 0
        - padding: 4px 12px
        - background-color: |
            [[[
              if ((variables.diff < 2) && (variables.last_done.getDay() == variables.now.getDay())) { return 'rgba(var(--rgb-success-color), .33)' }
              if ((variables.due > 0) && (variables.due < variables.diff)) { return 'rgba(var(--rgb-error-color), .33)' } else {return 'transparent'}
            ]]]
      grid:
        - grid-template-columns: min-content 1fr min-content
        - grid-template-areas: '"i n badge" "i s badge" "i l badge"'
      img_cell:
        - align-self: middle
        - text-align: start
        - padding: 8px 24px 8px 4px
      icon:
        - color: |
            [[[
              if ((variables.diff < 2) && (variables.last_done.getDay() == variables.now.getDay())) { return 'var(--success-color)' }
              if (variables.due > 0) {
                if (variables.due < variables.diff) { return 'var(--error-color)' }
                if (variables.due < variables.diff + (variables.due / 4)) { return 'var(--warning-color)' }
              } else { return 'var(--primary-text-color)' }
            ]]]
      name:
        - align-self: middle
        - justify-self: start
        - font-size: var(--body-font-size)
      label:
        - align-self: middle
        - justify-self: start
        - font-size: var(--body-font-size)
        - opacity: 0.66
      custom_fields:
        badge:
          - background: |
              [[[
                if ((variables.diff < 2) && (variables.last_done.getDay() == variables.now.getDay())) { return 'var(--success-color)' }
                if (variables.due < variables.diff) { return 'var(--error-color)' } else { return 'var(--warning-color)' }
              ]]]
          - padding: 2px
          - line-height: 1
          - font-size: var(--h6-font-size)
          - font-weight: 900
          - text-transform: uppercase
          - border-radius: 2px
          - color: var(--accent-text-color)
    tap_action:
      action: call-service
      service: input_button.press
      service_data:
        entity_id: entity
    hold_action:
      action: more-info
      entity: >-
        [[[ return entity.entity_id.replace("input_button", "input_text")
        ]]]

(Notice how it is basically a copy-paste from the tutorial). I did remove two quotes ' since they were unmatched and VSCode was complaining about invalid yaml.

In the dashboard I see a card with the title "Plants" but no content.

P.S.: Is there a way to debug the UI components? Can we set breakpoints in the python code? I feel lost trying to understand and debug these monolithic yamls.

[Madelena]

My bad. It should be:

      - type: "custom:auto-entities"
        filter:
          include:
            - group: group.chores     # <--- not chore_plants

Thanks for bearing with all the errors in this first draft of the tutorial. 😅 Hope this has been a useful learning experience for you.

[szethh]

Hey, that worked as well (kinda). Now I was getting JS errors, saying that variables.last_date.getDay() was not a function. I found the solution purely by chance, and it is really bizarre. I don't really know why it happens:

now: [[[ return new Date() ]]]  # --> for some reason home assistant parses this line as:
now: - - - return new Date()   # --> which is not valid JS so it gives an error

I'll include a picture to illustrate what I mean (see bottom):

No other variables were giving errors, and the thing they all had in common was that they were defined with yml line breaks. I replaced the line with this (just adding a line break, no actual code change) and it works...

variables:
  now: >-
    [[[ return new Date() ]]]
  last_done: >-
    [[[return new Date(entity.state)]]]

I honestly have no idea why this is the case, my javascript knowledge is basic at best. This has definitely been a learning experience hahah.

But hey, now they render, and they look great!

Now I just need to figure out how to set the frequency... But thank you very much for the tutorial and for the help!

I hope those who come across this issue find it helpful as well.

[Madelena]

In my original version of the tutorial, it's missing a ' for the now and last_done variables, so the way you fixed it is correct! 👍

Now I just need to figure out how to set the frequency...

To do that, long press an item, or go to Settings -> Integrations -> Helpers and find the Input Text for that chore to edit the number. It's in the amount the days.

I'm glad it all works out! Enjoy!